Steam-generator



(No Model.) 7 SheetsShet 1. W. G. HIGGINS. STEAM GENERATOR.

No. 468,423. Patented Feb. 9, 1892.

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STEAM GENERATOR.

No. 468,423. PatentedPeb. 9, 1892.

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STEAM GENERATOR. No. 468,423. Patented Feb. 9, 1892.

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STEAM GENERATOR.

No. 468,423. Patented Feb. 9, 1892.

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W. G. HIGGINS. STEAM GENERATOR.

No. 468,423. Patented Feb. 9, 1892.

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No. 468,423. Patented Feb. 9, 1892.

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Patented Feb. 9, 1892.

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\VERTER C. HIGGINS, OF NORlVICH, CONNECTICUT.

STEAM-GENERATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 468,423, dated February 9, 1892. Application filed June 22,1891. Serial No. 397,114. tNo model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WEETER C. HIGGINS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Norwich, inthe county of New London and State of Connecticut, have made certain new and useful Improvements in Steam- Generators, which improvements are fully set forth and described in the following specification, reference being had to the accompanying seven sheets of drawings, which illustrate my invention complete and in detail.

My said improvements are in the class of generators composed of a multiple of sections so constructed and planned that a greater or lesser number may be employed to pro vide any desired steaming and heating capacity, and my purpose is to produce a form of generator which shall embody the desirable features of compactness, simplicity, comparative ease in assembling its various elementary parts, and in which the caloric products of combustion may be utilized with the greatest possible advantage and economy. In this class of generators it is especially desirable that the water-space in the boiler-section be so cut up and introduced to the fire that steam may be quickly generated and easily maintained with the least possible consumption of fuel, and these desirable results are believed to have been attained in my present invention. To explain the same clearly I have provided the annexed drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of a generator of my improved form, partly inclosed by a brick casing, and with its various gage, damper, and other connection, in their proper places. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the generator proper, partly broken away to disclose the internal arrangement of its parts. Fig. 3 is a detached perspective view of the ash-pit section. Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view of the generator proper, taken near the center of the same and extending from front to rear. Fig. shows the front boiler-section detached, and Fig. 6 an edge view of the same. Figs. 7 and 8 are respectively sectional views of the boiler-section of Fig. 5 on lines X. and Z. Figs. 9 and 10 are inner face and edge views of the rear boiler-section, and Figs. 11 and 12 cross-sectional views of the same on lines or Figs. 13 and 1st are face and edge views of one of the boiler-sections located immediately atthe rear of the fire-pot, and Figs. 15, 16, and 17 are respectively cross-sectional views of the same on lines tangy y, and .c .c. Fig. 18 is a face view of one of the intermediate boiler-sections; and Figs. 19, 20, and 21 are respectively cross-sectional views of the same on lines an at, y y, and z .2.

My generator may be briefly described as composed of a multiple of sections adapted to be brought together in any number to provide a complete generator of desired capacity. These sections vary in form, according to the positions they are to occupy and the service they are to perform. Each section is formed on opposite sides with parallel ribs 10 11, these ribs being 011 one side close together and adapted to enter between those of the next section, as shown in Figs. 4. and 21.

When the several sections are assembled, as-

bestus or other suitable packing and filling is introduced between the ribs, and when the sections are brought forcibly together and clamped the joints thus made render the whole practically as one structure. Each of the boiler-sections is hollow in all its parts to provide ample water-space, as is very clearly illustrated in Sheets 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 of the accompanying drawings.

Referring now particularly to Sheets 2, 3, and 5, the reference-figures 12 indicate the rearmost boiler-section, conforming in outline and thickness with the other sections of the series, but differing in that it is made as a continuous wall 13 from top to bottom to provide the end wall of the complete generator and also to provide an inner plate or wall against which the products of combustion may impinge and be deflected upward, the inner face of said wall 13 being recessed, as at 14, for that purpose, as I shall refer to again later on. This recessed portion 11 may be corrugated, as in Figs. 4, 9, and 11,0r may be left plain, as in Fig. 2.

The front boiler-section is indicated by the reference-figures 15, and is best seen in Sheets 3 and 1. This section is also hollow to provide water-space, and is recessed on its inner face, as at 16. Openings 17 18 are formed in said section coincident with doors 17 18,

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that are hinged in the usual manner to the sections 21, the use and number of the latter being determined by the size and capacity of the generator. These sections 20 and 21 are best illustrated in Sheets 2, a, 6, and 7 of the drawings and differ from the front and rear sections in that they are of open or skeleton form to provide fire-space and also suitable draft-fines, through which the products of combustion may pass off. Near the upper portion of these skeleton sections is a hollow cross-bar 22, connected by upright hollow bars 23 with a corresponding cross-bar or head-piece 24, the open spaces 25 between said bars in the several sections 20 21 being coincident when the boiler is set up and providing continuous passages or flues that connect at their rear ends with the upper portion of the recess let of the rear boilersection 12, as seen in Figs. 2 and 4 of the drawings. WVhen the various sections are assembled, the cross-bars 22 form the upper wall of the combustion-chamber. Projecting downward from the center of cross-bar 22 in each of sections 20 21 is a hollow column 26, that is connected by integral pipes 27 with the side walls of said sections, said pipes extending laterally and downwardly, so that as the waterbecomes heated and approaches the steaming-point no hinderance or bar is interposed to the natural tendency of the heated water and steam to pass upward. At the same time the cooler portions of the water may pass freely downward through the outer walls of said sections into closer contact with the fire to be heated and to pass upward in turn, as above described.

I prefer to make the column and pipes tubular in form and of a less diameter than the thickness of the boiler-sections and locate them substantially midway of the thickness of the sections, so that the heat and flames will have afree passage up between them, and thereby give the most satisfactory results. By this arrangement a roof or top is formed over the furnace by the hollow cross-bars 22, against which the heat will strike, and thereby heat the water within the cross-bars as the heat passes along under the roof and before it reaches the passage-way 25, where it again acts upon the cross-bars 22 and also upon the top portions 24 of the sections, thereby permitting of the greatest amount of the heat being transmitted to the water before it can leave the furnace.

The boiler-sections 21 differ from the sections 20 only in the fact that the former are constructed with hollow cross-plates 28, that extend upward to the recess 14 of the rear sections 12, and the cross-plate 28 of the inner one of said sections 21 (when more than one is employed) forms the rear wall of the fire-pot. (See Fig. 2.)

If the complete generator is short and made up of only a few sections, the cross-plates 28 may be entirely omitted, in which case the inner wall of the rear section 12 would form the rear wall of the fire-pot.

I have described now in detail the form of the various boiler-sections, their relation to each other, the arrangement and location of the fire-pot, and flues for the exit of the products of combustion. These flues at the upper front portion of the generator all lead into a chamber 29, formed by an extension of the front plate 19, the upper portion of said.

extension being formed with a smoke-pipe collar 30, from which a suitable pipe may lead to the chimney. A door .31 is hinged to the outer side of the said extension of plate 19, through which the flues may be easily reached for cleaning, and a small drop-door 32 may also be hinged to door 31, to be used as a check or cold-air damper. described boiler-sections is formed with a boss 33 on opposite sides near the bottom andwith a similar boss 34. at the top. "These bosses are tapped to receive short pipe connections 35, whose opposite ends are screwed into pipes or drums 36 37, which thus serve as manifolds to clamp the several boiler-sections securely together. The lower pipes 36 also serve as water connections to insure perfect circulation, and the drum 37serves as a steam-dome, from which the steam may be delivered through pipes 38, tapped into its upper side.

The ash-pit section 39, upon which the described boiler-sections rest, is of simple box form, as illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3,has journaled in its upper portion any suitable form of grate, and is supplied with the usual draft and cleaning doors. This ash-pit section may be built up of a multiple of panels 40, corresponding in width with the thickness of the boiler-sections 12, 20, and 21, said panels being supported between a base 41 and atop rim 42, the top rim being provided, preferably, with an upwardly-projecting flange or rib 43, within which the several boiler-sections rest and and are held against lateral displacement.

In Fig. 1 the preferred arrangement of steam and water gages and automatically-controlled dampers is shown; but as these accessories form no part of my invention I have thought it unnecessary to describe them in detail.

Fig. 2 of the drawings conveys the best pos* sible idea of the location of the fire-pot and of the course taken by the products of combust-ion. The hot-airand gasesfrom the burning coal fill the combustionchamberwithin which the pipes 27 and columns 26 are suspended, then pass upward around the rear cross-bar 22, and thence find an exit through the lines 25 into the space formed by the front extension 29 and to the smoke-pipe. It will Each of the then be seen that the products of combustion are utilized to the best advantage during their entire passage through the generator.

I claim- 1. In a steam-generator, in combination with the front and back sections, a multiple of intermediate sections, each having two hollow cross-bars 22 and 224i at its upper section and a return draft-flue between said bars, and a vertical central column depending from the bar 22 within the combustion-chamber, said column being connected with the sides of the section by lateral inclined pipes 27, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. In a generator, in combination with the front and back sections, each recessed on its inner side, as set forth, a multiple of intermediate boiler-sections having return draftflues 25 near the top and hollow columns 26 and laterally-extending pipes 27 within the combustion chamber, and upright hollow cross-bars with the draft-fines, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

3. In a generator, in combination, front and rear sections, a front plate on the front section provided with an extension forming a chamber at the end of the draft-fines and having a smoke-pipe collar, a door hinged to the front portion of the extension for cleaning the draft-flues, a drop-door hinged to the extension for regulating the draft, interme nections, substantially as described, and for the objects specified.

WERTER (7. HIGGINS. lVitnesses:

HENRY S. IIIGGINs, FRANK I-I. ALLEN. 

